Negotiators for the Cleveland Clinic's Lutheran Hospital met Friday with members of the Service Employees International Union District 1199 representing healthcare and other workers in an ongoing contract negotiation that could lead to a strike.
The negotiation is the last of nearly 20 bargaining sessions between the sides since the current collective bargaining agreement expired at the end of April. If these negotiations fail, then a strike could occur as soon as next week, according to SEIU 1199 director and chief negotiator Vanessa Dalesandro.
A hospital spokesperson said Lutheran is looking forward to continued negotiations and pledged that patient care will not be impacted.
"We want to reassure the community that care for patients will continue uninterrupted at the hospital,” the spokesperson said.
The SEIU union does not represent registered nurses, according to the hospital. Instead, it represents workers in dietary, environmental services, transport, maintenance and nursing support roles. The hospital added that many of those who picketed in front of the hospital on Thursday were not members of the union's bargaining unit at the hospital.
To date, SEIU said it has filed more than two dozen unfair labor practice charges against the hospital for issues such as failure to bargain in good faith, refusing to provide information, retaliation, harassment and discrimination against union members and intimidation and interfering with union member rights.
But, according to Dalesandro and other union negotiators, the dispute with Lutheran is about more than the union contract, it's about equal treatment and respect.
"There are a lot of benefits that are being ... given to other caregivers of the Cleveland Clinic because they're not in the union," she said. The Clinic leaders "are absolutely creating this divide based on union status."
For example, union members want paid parental leave, short-term disability insurance, a retirement account match and the right to be called “caregivers” like non-union members, union executive board director and power plant mechanic Brian Higgins said.
"Everyone else is a caregiver," he said. "They refuse to let us be called 'caregiver' in our contract. That's a big thing because that shows respect."
Higgins said of the lack of parental leave for union members makes it difficult for workers to balance caregiving responsibilities at home with work obligations.
"How can we care for our family at work if we can't care for our family at home?" he said.
The refusal to provide a retirement match also is painful for union members, he said.
"They're not investing in our retirement," Higgins said. "They're not investing in our future. It hurts."
Delasandro said the union will provide a timeline for a potential strike early next week. But, she added SEIU is by no means closing the door to further talks.
"We are willing to negotiate," she said. "We show up every time. We've given proposals and counters and responses. And we'll continue to do that, and we'll continue to make ourselves available to bargain and we'll make a good faith effort to bargain any time the hospital wants to bargain — to try to reach an agreement before we get to that point" of striking.
